New role for former Ibbotson Head of Distribution

Morningstar has confirmed the move of Matthew Esler, former head of distribution at Ibbotson Associates, which has since been rebranded as Morningstar, to a consulting role within the firm's investment management business.

A spokesperson for Morningstar said that Esler will be "supporting our clients who want to transition their existing and new client assets into our managed accounts and investment trusts."

Commenting on the role, Esler told Industry Moves: "The new role is great as it combines sales and adviser distribution, (which was what I was formerly assisting Morningstar with), with effective advice generation (which is my background at Midwinter and more recently Padua)."

"The new role also allows me to work more closely with Padua, the business I co-founded with my sister Anne-Marie, who is the managing director. Padua produces some of the advice documents (SOAs, ROAs, Application Forms, Rollover Authority Forms) through Morningstar's Transition Management program - this is because Padua is the paraplanning firm of choice for many of the dealer groups and licensees that Morningstar are engaging."

Morningstar has recently combined its investment management and information products business development teams. As part of the new structure, the firm will be recruiting for the newly-created role of director of business development.

Editor's note: Matthew Esler's contract with Morningstar ended on 31 December 2016. He has since taken up the role of executive chair with Padua, effective 1 January 2017.